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Baker is producing expositional commentaries on all the
books of the Bible. and Boice has written several volumes for the series on both
Old and New Testament books. Ephesians, like the other, is a commentary
that will help the user open the Scriptures and understand their meaning
for today. Boice calls it “a mini-course in theology, centered on the church.”
Ephesians is definitely the “church book” of the Bible. No
biblical understanding of the church will develop without a thorough knowledge
of it. Boice’s commentary will be beneficial to pastors preparing to
preach and teach, lay Bible teachers, and other Christians in their individual
study of the word. It presents the basic doctrines of Christianity in a way that
helps us understand clearly what they mean for our lives. This is particularly
helpful in today’s “postmodern” world, where the younger generation is only
interested in things that touch their lives, that they can experience, and that
give their lives meaning.
This commentary, as is true with others in this series, is
highly readable, full of practical suggestions, and reflective of deeper
exegetical work. One example from Ephesians 4: 11-13 demonstrates this point.
This passage reads: “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be
prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to
prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be
built up until we all reach unity of the faith and in the knowledge of the Son
of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ.”
There has been debate through the years over this passage
as to whether it is a reference to the “work of the saints” or the “work of the
pastors and teachers. Much of the conclusion rests on the grammatical structure
of the Greek text. Do the professionals perform the entire ministry or is it a
combination of clergy and laity? The older emphasis was on the clergy’s role.
Boice points out, “That translation is wrong! Armitage Robinson was probably the
first commentator to notice it and insist that it was a mistake. He argued—and
virtually all commentators since have agreed with him—that the comma should be
eliminated. Without that comma, the passage says something entirely different.
Instead of giving three tasks to ‘ministers,’ it gives one task to the clergy
(‘equip the saints’) and another to the laity (‘do the ministry’). As a result
of both fulfilling their proper God-given function, ‘the body of Christ may be
built up’.” According to Boice, this passage clearly favors an “every-member
ministry” program. “It follows that where this intermediate step is not taken,
where the clergy try to do the whole work, there the church stagnates and
divisions occur.”
This volume is a new edition of an earlier commentary on
Ephesians by Boice. It builds on and expands that earlier study, which makes it
an even more valuable tool. (and I agree) This is a choice time to re-publish a
commentary on Ephesians since as Boice states, there has never been “a greater
need for sound doctrine of the church than today. There is mass confusion about
what the church is to be in our time, especially among so-called evangelical
Christians.” He also points out that we tend to make today’s church too
man-centered in its life and work “rather than by God and for God’s glory.”
This commentary is extremely important for today’s church—I
consider it to be among the top ten commentaries on Ephesians. Boice’s endnotes
clearly reflect his familiarity with the other top commentaries on this book.
Buy it! Use it! It will bless your understanding, preaching, and teaching of
this New Testament book.
- Charles Dunahoo, CEP Coordinator
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